PINK AND YELLOW – V01D23

Recommendation: ☹

V01D231 is the second full-length release by PINK AND YELLOW and the second overall by the artist for STC Records – the first being 2015’s Cloud Blanket EP. Released midway through January 2016, V01D23 has some of the best glitch art as its cover artwork released by a vaporwave label, even earning a shout-out by Sunbleach in our entirely unofficial end-of-the-year list. PINK AND YELLOW has since remained active as a producer, releasing three more albums in 2016 and another full-length in August 2017 through Norwegian label Vestkyst Støykollektiv.

This album consists of twelve short tracks that combine MIDI music with vaporwave tropes. Several tracks have a video game feeling to them with slight chiptune elements, as demonstrated by “Underwater Cave Exploration” and “Genesis / Loading”. Only three songs pass the three-minute mark; much of V01D23 is simply short vignettes of driving MIDI drums with small melodic flourishes. The production differs on practically every track: “Candy Colored Dream” is loud and brickwalled, whereas immediate follow-up “Blue Sunrise” is exceptionally quiet at almost one-fourth of the volume. This highly discrepant volume makes V01D23 a frustrating listen, giving it the impression of a dressed-up demo than a fully realized album – an impression that is not ameliorated by the stale MIDI percussion. However, with a bit more refinement and some longer song structures, there are several places (e.g. “Blue Sunrise” and “Coral Reef Expedition”) in which glimmers could be turned into shines.